"Dave Poole" wrote after...
Bob Hobden wrote:

Eutaxia obovata

Good one Bob ... and the flowers look absolutely right. However,
Eutaxia has sharp, but obovate leaves (hence the specific name) and
the one in the pic clearly shows needle-like leaves. Still, its a
very close call.


Dave, I had a good close look at the original photo and thought I could see
some "spines" seemed thicker in the middle like we were seeing all the
leaves side on so they just looked like spines.
If not, the flowers are so similar perhaps it's another member of the same
genus.
I just seem to remember seeing this plant somewhere.

--
Regards
Bob Hobden
17mls W. of London.UK

Bob Hobden wrote:

Dave, I had a good close look at the original photo and thought I could see
some "spines" seemed thicker in the middle like we were seeing all the
leaves side on so they just looked like spines.
If not, the flowers are so similar perhaps it's another member of the same
genus.
I just seem to remember seeing this plant somewhere.

Doesn't it just get you like that? You see something and are almost
sure what it is but .... I've just done a trawl of pics of both
genera and then racked my brains to get the memory cells working. The
flowers could be from any one of half a dozen genera and without any
indication of size and better defined floral characteristics, no-one
can say more than "maybe ...". If the leaves are any more than 1mm.
across and distinctly broader at the mid point, then Eutaxia it
probably is. If they are 1mm. or less across and without any
significant increase in breadth at the mid point, then it is probably
Pultenaea. The reality is that it will most likely remain one of
several possibilities. I'll admit to my preference simply because
I've grown it and immediately recognised the flowers, the way they are
carried etc. etc.

"Dave Poole" wrote in message
ps.com...
I don't think it is Daviesia ulicifolia since that species tends to
produce dense racemes of flowers and has rather broad leaves.

The OP reported that the plant was growing north of Sydney where the D.
ulicifolia is noted as being one of "the prickly shrubs, Daviesia
ulicifolia, Bursaria spinosa, Melaleuca nodosa and Lissanthe strigosa."
http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/...ark_endangered

Here is another picture where the colour of the flower is right as is the
shape of the leaves
http://www.anbg.gov.au/images/photo_...12633/019.html
and another
http://www.utas.edu.au/docs/plant_sc.../daviulic.html

I'm not saying that it IS a D. ulicifolia, but I am fairly certain that it
isn't a Eutaxia obovata because it's from Western Australia and thus is not
be likely to be growing as a 'wildflower' north of Sydney.

The
plant in the pic shows flowers in small clusters along the stem. I
grew something almost identical to that many years ago from seeds
collected in Oz by a friend's nephew who lived there. It took some
identifying (Australia has a bewildering number of native Fabaceae),
but it eventually turned out to be Pultenaea juniperina.

A somewhat straggling shrub with rather sharp, narrow leaves and
clusters of one, two or three flowers along the stems, arising from
each leaf axil. It grows in waste ground and dry heath type
vegetation in New South Wales, Victoria Tasmania and maybe S.
Australia. As a garden plant it's not the tidiest of things, but the
flowers when they appear are rather showy. Hard pruning of 1 year
growth immediately after flowering can keep it very much tidier, but
it resents older wood being cut. I couldn't persuade it to survive
winters outside in the Midlands, but I'm sure it would be very happy
in Devon and Cornwall. Academic really since I lost my plants many
moons ago. B&T World seeds sell it.

Photographs can be misleading, but I'd be prepared to put a moderately
large sum on it being a Pultenaea and just a slightly smaller amount
on it being juniperina.

Pultenaea juniperina is found mainly in Tasmania and Victoria and the NSW
distribution for this plant does not look right to me with the location
given as being "north of Sydney".
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cg...a~juniperi na

Daviesia ulicifolia does grow in the right area:
http://plantnet.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au/cg...a~ulicifoli a

I don't think we have a confirmed identification yet.

On Sep 7, 9:42 pm, Sacha wrote:
On 7/9/07 12:39, in article
, "FarmI"

ask@itshall be given wrote:


My best guess is that it is Daviesia ulicifolia but given that there are
hundreds of native Australian pea like flowers in the families of bossiaea,
chorizma, daciesia, hovea and labichea, that's pretty much a guess.

I think you've got it.

--
Sachahttp://www.hillhousenursery.co.uk
South Devon
(remove weeds from address)
'We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our
children.'

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++
Many thanks to all of you for replying and helping. Someone from the
botannical garden has finally figured it out to be Aotus genistoides.
With much appreciation - Klaus